


In Flux

by ssrhpurgatory



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: (approximately), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, F/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega/Omega, Pegging, Pre-Canon, cutter is a predatory asshole, disaster bisexuals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:34:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26487262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssrhpurgatory/pseuds/ssrhpurgatory
Summary: Dmitri Vologin thought he was past his last heat and decided it was safe to stop taking his suppressants.He was wrong.(Has the author of this ever read an Omegaverse fic? No. Does the author of this understand why they wrote this? Also no. Does Hilbert get the fuck pegged out of him by the terrible woman who is his lab manager in it? Who can say.)
Relationships: Alexander Hilbert/Original Female Character
Kudos: 6





	In Flux

A flush of heat ran through Dmitri’s body, and all he could think was _Oh no, not again_.

It had been three years since his last heat. He had thought—hoped—himself too old for another, though with both parents dead well before he had hit puberty, he had no way of knowing when his menopause was even supposed to hit.

If only being sterile prevented all the rest of it.

But no, he was subject to the same fluxes and distempers as any omega, subject to the heat that made it impossible to do anything but find someone to submit himself to, and quickly.

If only he had not tested his hormones a year ago and decided he was beyond his final heat, that he could stop taking the suppressants. If only this heat had not come on so suddenly, so unexpectedly.

If only he had not been in the company cafeteria when it had happened.

He could feel the eyes of every alpha in that place on him, could almost hear them consider how best to approach, whether they could get to him before Mr. Carter could. It was well known that the enigmatic Head of Communications liked to stake his claim on any employee so unfortunate as to go in to heat while working for Goddard, and only being claimed and defended by another alpha desperate to rut would keep the man at bay.

He pushed his chair back, hoping to escape the cafeteria and get back to his apartment before any of the alphas present could approach. But he was too late; as he attempted to stand, a heavy hand came down on his shoulder. He turned his head to find a burly man he did not recognize standing behind his chair.

“Can I help you?” Dmitri snarled.

The alpha smirked, looking down at Dmitri with a glassy-eyed stare. “I think I can help you,” he murmured, clearly trying to sound seductive and mostly failing.

“I do not think so,” Dmitri said, trying to wiggle out from under the man’s grip.

It tightened, and Dmitri resigned himself to abandoning his tray, attacking this alpha, and making a run for it, when a low growl interrupted his train of thought.

“Jason Connor, you take your hand off that man’s shoulder before I take it off for you,” a familiar female voice snapped.

To Dmitri’s surprise, the alpha removed his hand from Dmitri’s shoulder and backed off, hands held in the air defensively. Dmitri met the eye of his lab manager, Rosemary Epps, as she stepped in close to his side and took up a defensive posture.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

Dmitri nodded, but a second wave of heat spread through him, leaving him dizzy. “I need to get out of here. To get back to apartment,” he managed to get out, though his voice sounded strained even to his ears.

“I can see that,” Rosemary said, giving him a swift up and down look. “You have suppressants there?”

He shook his head, and she frowned.

“My apartment first, then. I should have a dose or two there, though they might be a bit old.”

He could wonder later why an alpha had such a thing in her apartment. For now, she seemed willing to protect him and in control enough of her own hormonal reaction to keep him safe, and at the moment, that was what he needed.

Somehow, she got him to his feet and out of the building. And then, they were making their way across the campus towards the apartment building where they both lived, Rosemary snarling and snapping at any other alpha who felt the need to approach. Fortunately, most of them gave her a wide berth to begin with. Rosemary Epps had a definite reputation at Goddard Futuristics, one that left most people terrified of her.

Finally, they were stumbling past his apartment door and through hers. Dmitri was cramping so hard he could hardly stand, let alone walk, but Rosemary got him into her bathroom, and with a low, murmured apology and an averted gaze, got his trousers and underwear down around his knees and settled him on the toilet. As he doubled over his knees in pain, she went digging in the mirrored medicine cabinet over the sink, eventually pulling out a small bottle.

“Damn,” she muttered, glaring at it. “These expired a lot longer ago than I realized.”

“When?” Dmitri panted.

“Six years.”

He winced. “Will just have to take a higher dose.”

“I’ve got about three doses worth in here,” she said, popping the bottle open. “It’ll have to do. I’ll go get you a glass of water.”

She returned in a moment, helped steady the glass for him as he poured it down his throat after taking the pills. He wanted to cling to her, wanted to beg her to claim him like the alpha she was.

He still felt as if he were burning up. Somehow, this seemed worse than the last heat he had had.

Or perhaps it was just that he was currently being cared for by an alpha he had spent the past two years pining for, and his body was not letting him deny that he wanted her to fuck him any more. Either way, when Rosemary went to leave the bathroom to give him a little privacy, he grabbed her by the arm and halted her.

“It will take at least three hours for suppressants to kick in. And they may not be fully effective.”

She blinked down at him, as if confused. “Probably not, no.”

“I... if I have not been claimed and Mr. Carter hears about this... I mean... could you...?” he stared up at her desperate and side-long, his neck bared for her, willing her to do what alphas did best and stake a claim on him.

Instead she laughed. “Darling, I’m an _omega._ ” She gestured down at her body. “Do you think they make alphas that look like this?”

He released her arm and flushed, both from embarrassment and from the heat that still raged through him. “Ah. I did not realize... I just assumed...”

“That because I’m a giant bitch I’m also an alpha? You wouldn’t be the first.” She smiled reassuringly and patted his shoulder. “But don’t worry. I’ll stay with you until the suppressants kick in, and I’ll even chase off William Carter if I need to.”

His bowels chose that moment to start emptying themselves into the waiting toilet, and that flush of personal embarrassment almost drove out the raging fire of his heat. Rosemary patted his shoulder once more and left the bathroom, but returned in a minute with a bottle of Gatorade, setting it on the bathroom counter next to him.

“I’m going to go call Charles to let him know that I’ll be out of the lab building for the rest of the day, but you just give me a shout if you need anything.”

Alexander nodded hastily and then focused on the matter at hand, doubling over as another spasm wracked his innards.

Half an hour later and the only thing leaking from him was a thin stream of clear mucus. He was almost too weak to stand. The last time he had forgotten his suppressants had not been like this. Of course, he had been in his apartment, had had unexpired suppressants waiting for him there. He had not needed to stumble across the campus of his work place, waiting for Rosemary to chase off alphas as they went. Had not had to take a triple dose of a suppressant that had expired six years ago in the hope that it would be enough.

He steadied himself, preparing to stand. He could at least stuff a wad of toilet paper in his underpants and get off this toilet. Could at least ride out the rest of this horrible flush of hormones comfortable on his own bed in his own apartment.

And then he heard a knock at Rosemary’s apartment door.

“Oh, Rosemary...” Mr. Carter’s muffled voice made it even to the bathroom. “Do you have dear Dr. Vologin secreted away in there?”

There was the sound of an annoyed huff from the hallway, and the sound of what he hoped was her putting the chain on her door up before opening the door. “Fuck off, William,” she snarled.

“Oh, touchy touchy. But you’re just a dried up omega bitch, my dear. You can’t give him what he really needs.”

“I’m pretty sure my cock is bigger than yours, William, so let’s not get into a dick-measuring contest here, hm? He’s mine. Fuck off.”

“Oh, fine,” Mr. Carter’s voice would have almost been amused, if it had not had a thoroughly alpha snarl laced through it. “But when he gets tired of you not being enough, send him my way, all right?”

There was a low growl from Rosemary and the sound of the front door slamming shut, followed by the click of her shoving the deadbolt in place. And then there was a careful knock on the bathroom door.

“Are you all right in there?”

“No,” he managed to say.

There was a moment of silence, and then Rosemary said “I’m coming in.”

Dmitri tucked the front of his shirt over the desperate erection that his cock had risen to in the past five minutes and hoped that Rosemary would be kind enough to pretend it was not there.

She frowned when she saw him. “You look awful, darling,” she said, taking two short steps to his side and pressing the back of her hand to his forehead. “How’s it going in here?”

He shuddered at the touch of her skin against his. He wanted this woman to claim him, wanted to spend the next several days under her, her cock up his ass, whether it was part of her or one she had to strap on. “Have finished evacuating, at least,” he managed to say weakly.

“You’re burning up,” she said, that frown digging itself deeper. “I’ll call around and see if I can find someone to bring us some unexpired suppressants.”

But when she went to pull away from him, he reached for her, his fingers closing around her wrist with a strength he did not know he still had. “Please,” he begged. “Please,” he said again, and Rosemary’s look of confusion turned to one of pity.

“Dr. Vologin…”

“Is your cock really bigger than Mr. Carter’s?”

She laughed at that. “Want to see?”

“Want it inside me,” he groaned.

She studied him carefully. “I really shouldn’t. We work together.”

“We both work with Mr. Carter. He has no such scruples.”

She raised her eyebrows and nodded, as if to acknowledge the fairness of this. “Still, he’s an alpha. The sort who binds an entire pack together. I’m not sure he can control himself.”

Dmitri had to admit that she had a point, but he was not going to admit it out loud. “I do not want him to control me as well,” he said, tugging gently on Rosemary’s wrist. “You might not be an alpha, but I would rather have _you_ as my alpha than him.”

Rosemary’s lips parted on a sigh, and her cheeks flushed ruddy under their warm brown. “All right,” she whispered softly. “All right. Just give me a few minutes to prepare. And you,” she picked up the bottle of Gatorade with her free hand and handed it to him. “Get yourself hydrated. And…” she looked him up and down. “You probably want to get yourself undressed.”

A few minutes later and she returned, helping him to his feet and in to her bedroom, her gaze carefully averted from his naked body. Her bed had been stripped of everything but the fitted sheet, and when she urged him to sit down on the edge, it rustled as if there were something beneath it.

Dmitri pressed his palm to the surface of the bed. “Waterproof?”

Rosemary nodded and paused in the middle of rummaging through one of her drawers. “I figure this will get messy.”

“You should get undressed too,” he said, before he could stop himself.

“In a moment, darling,” she purred, turning back towards the bed with several somethings in her arms. “Here. Decide which of my cocks you like best.”

She laid a selection of dildos on the bed at his side, from one about the same size as his own cock to one that knotted at the base and would have been large even for an Alpha. He considered only for a moment before selecting that large one.

One of Rosemary’s eyebrows quirked up dangerously at that. “You _are_ a man of taste and refinement.”

“Put it in me,” he begged. He was too far gone now to feel embarrassed by his need.

“Hasty, hasty,” she murmured. She leaned in close to him and wrapped her arm briefly around his shoulders, pulling him close. And then her teeth nipped down hard on his neck, startling the breath out of him.

“Rosemary. _Please_.” He lifted his hands to her face, seized it, pulled her mouth to his. Her lips parted under his with a startled breath, and then she was kissing him back, her tongue slipping into his open mouth and teasing his. Dmitri groaned, and dropped his hands to the buttons of her suit jacket, sliding them free of their moorings, desperate to feel her skin against his.

“Just a moment,” she said, stepping back from him. “Just a moment,” she repeated, scrambling out of her suit, throwing her blouse aside, working the little hooks that held her girdle shut and then shedding the rest of her underthings. And then it was back to her drawer with an armful of dildos, and a moment later she was inserting the one he had chosen into a harness and stepping into it.

He watched in fascination, watched her heavy breasts as they sagged and hung, watched the straps of the harness dig into the ample flesh of her waist and hips and thighs. And watched, with no small amount of avarice, as she stood up straight with that massive cock secured in place, jutting up proudly from her crotch.

“Well, darling, what do you think?”

He whimpered and dipped his head to one side by instinct, baring his neck for her inspection. She smirked and approached, lowering her face to his neck and breathing him in. And then her lips, pressed warm against his throat, parted, baring teeth that dug into his neck again and left him panting for her. Her tongue darted out next, hot and wet, soothing the bite mark she had left.

“Lay yourself down,” she said softly, patting his thigh with her hand. And then, when he did not respond quickly enough through the heated daze that was warping his senses, she pushed him back on to the surface of the bed with a roughness he appreciated before she lifted his legs up on either side of her hips. By instinct, he wrapped his legs around her waist, and suddenly, thankfully, there was that massive cock, pressing against his asshole.

But Rosemary was a tease. She took her cock in one hand, rubbing it in little circles against the tight pucker of his asshole, slick with his own secretions. Her other hand made its way around to his ass, and then her fingers joined the tip of her cock, teasing him. One finger, two, three, bit by bit she fucked him with them in short, careful strokes meant to ready him for what was to come.

“Please,” he whimpered. “Please,” he begged, his heat burning so strong in him that all he wanted was her hard cock so far inside him that he could not breathe.

“Just a moment, darling,” she murmured. And then her hand left his ass and closed around his cock instead, her fingers slick and tight around him, and that massive alpha cock she wore shoved its way deep into him in one rough, painful stroke.

He came. Hard. Harder than he thought he had ever come before, his orgasm wiping out his awareness of the world around him for a moment. Rosemary held her hips firm against him, jerked his cock hard and fast, milking every drop of cum from him as it spurted out, hot and sticky across his stomach.

It was not enough. His own erection did not go down, and as he squirmed and writhed in the paroxysms of his orgasm, that massive cock Rosemary wore moved within him, urging him on to further delight.

“There’s a start, at least,” Rosemary murmured, and then she started moving in him once more, her hands clamping down on his hips as she shoved that massive cock into him again and again, hitting a spot deep inside him that almost made him black out with pleasure. “Come on, darling. Come for me again,” she murmured, bending over him, her lips finding his throat again. “You know it’s what you need.”

Dmitri could only whimper in response.

And then her hands went to his knees, forcing his legs off her waist and up against his chest, parting his ass cheeks further. The large, knotted base of the cock she was wearing slipped up inside him, and he spasmed again, his muscles clenching down and keeping it where it was.

“There you go,” Rosemary murmured, circling her hips against him. “Take it all, darling. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Take it.”

He gasped, his head falling back against the surface of the bed. Vaguely, he was aware of Rosemary moving, of the constant pressure against his asshole releasing a little as she stopped shoving her hips up hard against him, but he was still full of that massive cock and could think of nothing else. She shoved him roughly back, further up onto the surface of the bed, and suddenly she was over him, straddling him, the weight of her hips pressing him into the bed, pressing that massive cock, which she must have removed along with the harness, back into him as deep as her hips had kept it.

Her face sprang into focus as he stared blankly up at her, her pupils blown dark, her mouth hanging open, her breath coming in harsh pants. “May I?” she asked, her fingers closing around his cock, still stiff in spite of the orgasms that she had already eked from his body.

Dmitri nodded desperately, and she held him steady as she lowered herself onto him. Inch by inch, his cock sank into her hot cunt, until with a rush she was fully seated on him. She bit her lower lip and moved her hips in a little circle, grinding down against him. All too quickly, her movements sent another spasm of pleasure through him. His orgasm flooded her cunt and she clenched around him as he came, almost impossibly tight and slick.

She let out a little whimper and sagged against his chest. “God, I remember what this was like,” she said breathlessly.

Dmitri put his face to her neck and breathed her in. Not the scent of an alpha at all, and he had no idea how he could have imagined her as one. But instead, she had the warm, welcoming scent of an omega, aroused but not in heat herself, so delicious he wanted to bury his face there and breathe her in forever. He settled for giving her a little nip and for lapping his tongue across her skin to soothe it, the same way she had for him.

He was almost rational now, he realized. The suppressants must be kicking in, sooner than he had expected.

And here he was, in bed with his lab manager, his cock still hard inside her, her body heavy against his, that massive alpha dildo still buried in his ass.

And he was still irrational enough to want to take complete advantage of the situation.

He grabbed her hips and thrust up against her, the knot of that alpha cock dislodging from his asshole. And then he lowered his hips and she sank with him, her weight bearing down on him, pressing him into the surface of the bed, that knot popping back inside him as she did.

That was all the prompting she needed to start riding him, her hips slamming down against his again and again. She was too slick for the same sort of pleasurable friction as that first thrust had brought, his cum oozing out of her as her hips bore down on him again and again, but it brought a different sort of pleasure with it. The pleasure of another person, just as desperate for her release as he had been for his, and looking to him to give it to her.

He worked his hand between them, a difficult task, the space between their bodies sticky and tight. But there was space enough to find her clitoris, hard beneath his fingertips, space enough to rub it in a way that had her gasping and grinding to a halt in short order, her cunt clenching hard around him. She let out a breathless scream as she came, and then bit down hard on his neck, her hips moving against his in tight little circles again as she took her pleasure from him and made it last.

Finally, she released him, her tongue lapping across the bite marks she had no doubt left on his throat, the heavy weight of her relaxing against him. But for all that she seemed to be done with him, at least for the moment, he was not done with her. The suppressants might have started to work, but he was still filled with the desperate arousal of an omega in heat, an arousal that needed an outlet. And more than that, he wanted to find some way to thank her for what she had done for him, when words would never be enough.

He meant to be subtle about it. He meant to work her around to the topic.

But what actually came out when he opened his mouth was “Come sit on my face.”

Rosemary let out an amused little murr and nipped his neck again. “You seem to be feeling better, if you can think about someone else’s gratification.”

Dmitri shook his head. “My gratification. Want to taste you.”

Another of those amused little murrs. “Pretty sure I won’t taste of anything but you, after that.”

“I will lick you clean and find out.”

Rosemary’s cheek flushed hot against his. “All right,” she breathed against his neck.

A few readjustments later and she was straddling his face instead of his hips, her own attention very much on his cock, which she was exploring with lips and tongue in a gentle but extremely thorough fashion. With that going on, it was hard to concentrate on the bounty before him, but somehow he managed. He found himself delighted when Rosemary lifted her head in order to gasp and let out a low moan of pleasure as she tried to grind down against his face. He wrapped his arms firmly around her legs and kept at it, licking and suckling at her clitoris until he heard her whimper helplessly as she let go of the last of her control, her body trembling, wracked by an orgasm that seemed to go on and on. He gentled her through it, savoring the taste of her against his lips, the salt and musk of her.

Finally, she stopped shaking and rolled off of him, onto her side. Dmitri lifted his hips and reached beneath himself to pull that massive alpha dildo out of his ass, letting out a little moan at how empty it left him feeling once it was gone. And then he strained abdominal muscles that hadn’t seen so much exercise in years as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

Rosemary was laying—no, lounging—on the bed at his side, eyes shut, a lazy, satisfied expression on her face. Dmitri found himself smiling down at her, reaching down and brushing the bangs of her sadly crushed-looking wig to one side.

“I was satisfactory?”

One of Rosemary’s eyes snapped open and she let out a snort of laughter. “Like you even need to ask that question.” That eye closed again as she stretched like a cat, contentment obvious in every line of her body. “You’re welcome to do that again any time you like.”

Dmitri let his fingers feather across her cheekbone until he could trace the curve of her ear. “Do you really mean that?”

This time both of her eyes snapped open. She studied him, her face strangely open and guileless, her perusal laying bare the truth he had needed to face himself that day. He had thought his attraction a misshapen, one-sided thing, something he intended to keep carefully hidden in Rosemary’s presence, because what could a woman like her want of someone like him? And there had almost been an elation to the thought that she was an alpha, that the hormonal storm of his heat would draw her to him even if she did not particularly care for him one way or the other.

But she was not an alpha, and there in her steady gaze was a need that echoed his own. A need to possess and be possessed, a need to love and be loved, by him and him alone.

She nodded, once, deliberately. “I don’t know how we’ll manage it while we’re at work, you know.” Her voice was low and raspy and a little bit hesitant. “If you want to keep doing this, that is.”

Dmitri felt a sudden smile twitch at the corners of his mouth. And then, suddenly, he could not stop smiling. “I can be professional.”

A grin just as broad as the one he suspected was on his own face spread across Rosemary’s. “That smile isn’t professional at all, darling. Everyone will figure out we’re fucking in three seconds flat if you keep smiling at me like that.”

“Good. Want to warn off competition.”

Rosemary let out a bark of laughter at that. “God, you’re scrappy. Get that face of yours down here and kiss me.”

Dmitri complied.

One kiss lead to two lead to ten, and the next thing he knew he was over her, pressing her into the bed, sheathing the still-hard length of his cock in her cunt. But this time, finally, he had enough presence of mind to go slowly, to savor the velvet heat of her around him.

Or at least he did until Rosemary made a frustrated little noise in the back of her throat and slapped him on the ass, at which point he went very quickly indeed. This time, when his climax hit, he felt his cock begin to soften soon after. With a low grunt he pulled himself off of Rosemary, barely noticing the dampness of the sheet beneath him and his own sticky state as he cuddled up against Rosemary’s side and fell asleep almost immediately, exhaustion finally catching up with him.

Dmitri woke up to another flush of heat—less intense than it had been, but uncomfortable when he had hoped that the suppressants had been enough to get him through the last of it—and to the feeling of his cock being sucked.

He had not been able to see much of Rosemary at work while she had been sitting on his face. The sight that welcomed him now, when he opened his eyes and found her face between his legs, the length of his cock almost completely buried inside her hot mouth, those plush lips descending his shaft as she took him deeper... well, it was enough to take him over the edge. He let out a low grunt and thrust mindlessly at her mouth as he came.

After a moment, Rosemary sat back on her heels, wiping a stream of white away from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand as she looked down at him. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to wake you up. You just got hard again and started humping my leg, so I figured I ought to lend you a hand.” She bit her lower lip and smiled guiltily at him. “Or mouth, rather. Was that all right?”

Dmitri smirked at her. “If I could wake up like that every day, I would.”

“You’d get awfully spoiled.” Rosemary was clearly struggling not to smirk back and was failing entirely. “But regardless of whether regular morning blowjobs are in your future, it does seem as if you are in need of a round two.”

He could not bring himself to argue with her. His cock had remained hard and aching even through his orgasm. “You will fuck me again?” he pled.

Rosemary sat back further, letting her legs part, and he noticed what he had not before; the straps of her harness, making indentations in the heavy flesh of her waist and hips, the massive alpha cock pressing up from where she had concealed it between her thighs. “I thought you’d never ask, darling,” she purred.

A moment later his legs were up around Rosemary’s shoulders and that cock, her cock, was buried in him once more.

During their next lull, after Rosemary had managed to get another bottle of gatorade down his throat, Dmitri found himself as the big spoon, his hand against the curve of her stomach as he cuddled her backside to his front. “I almost wish it were possible for there to be consequences,” he heard himself murmuring as his hand stroked her stomach gently. “I...” but he could not finish the thought.

“You’ve thought all your life that if you were going to have a child, you’d be the one to bear it. Only now you’re considering what it would be like to be on the opposite side of that dynamic.”

“Yes. But Volgograd...”

“Took that option from you. I know.” She shifted, and her hand came down on top of his. “I... I’m thinking about it, too.” She let out a low laugh that almost sounded broken. “Never wanted a child in my life, but with you...” She peered over her shoulder at him, a little frown of concern between her eyebrows. “I understand why some people want them, is all.” Another broken little laugh, and Dmitri found himself pressing kisses to her neck, trying to soothe her.

“Even if you were not—“ too old, he refused to say, tracing the c-section scar that stood out against her lower abdomen, a sign of a past he was not certain he had a right to ask about yet “—and even if I were not—“ sterilized by a childhood that involved an unconscionable amount of radiation and far too little care, he did not put into words “—it is unlikely that we could have produced viable offspring.”

“I know. Omega-omega pairings are the least likely to be fertile.” She sighed. “And lord, imagine us as parents.”

Dmitri imagined the pair of them trying to raise a child. Or rather, he tried and failed horribly. He could not imagine either of them setting their job aside long enough to raise a child. Decima would fail, if he set it aside for so long. And Rosemary as a stay-at-home mother? “No, I do not think so,” he found himself saying out loud.

Rosemary let out a crack of laughter at that. “I know. Our poor hypothetical offspring.”

“It is a fantasy. I know this.” Better to distract himself with the solid truth, with this body here in his arms. He nibbled the nape of her neck, traced fingers up her stomach to take one of her heavy breasts in hand, feeling the nipple harden beneath his fingertips. And at that sign of her arousal, he felt the return of his own. “Are you fit for round three?” he asked in some desperation.

“Let’s try me.”

He had worn her out, he could tell, but the desperate arousal of his heat was fading too. Soon enough, he would pass out and be able to sleep properly for a while, and no doubt would wake up ravenous and in very great need of a shower.

So this time, he tried to make it good for her, exploring that luscious body of hers, finding all the places that drove her wild when he teased and touched them. Tried to bind her to him, when he could not bite her and mark her as his own in the way an alpha could.

Their final coupling, they went over the edge together, their bodies exhausted but in sync. Dmitri collapsed against her chest, his softening cock still buried in her, his face against her neck, lips pressed to the pulse that beat hard and fast there.

And then he slept.

He woke up feeling sticky all over. One advantage of going into heat was that one never properly registered how many bodily fluids were involved and where they were going until after it had abated. The disadvantage was that one always woke up feeling rather disgusting, once everything was over.

Rosemary was not in the bed next to him. Dmitri pushed himself upright and winced. After a moment, he located his glasses on Rosemary’s bedside table, and rolled gingerly in that direction to retrieve them, regretting the move a moment later. Every muscle in his body was screaming in pain from overuse.

Perhaps he had made some sound of pain, or perhaps Rosemary had been coming to check on him anyway. The door to her bedroom opened and she wobbled in, tightening her robe around her middle as she came. “You all right?”

All that Dmitri could do was stare. She had removed her wig and makeup and looked strangely vulnerable without it, almost a stranger compared to the flashy woman who had taken him to bed such a short time ago.

He wondered how many people had seen her like this.

Not many, he thought.

Rosemary’s hand went to the neckline of her robe, and she tugged nervously at it, seeming unable to look at him directly. “Is something wrong?”

Dmitri shook his head. “No. I just...”

Her eyes darted up to meet his, and that vulnerability was still there. “What?” she breathed.

How could he put words to what he felt in that moment? To the joy of seeing this guarded woman let down one of her walls for him, to the soft pleasure of her making herself vulnerable in his presence? “Thank you,” he said.

That had been the wrong thing to say. She stiffened as if he had hit her, that vulnerability whisking its way behind a smiling mask. “I’m glad I was able to be of service. I’m sure you’ll be happy to pretend this never happened.”

He fought against the urge to respond in kind, startled by this cold and distant woman in place of the one who had, not that long ago, been warm and welcoming beneath him. He suspected that if he did lash out in response, he would lose any chance he had of seeing that Rosemary again, would lose any chance he had of staying in her bed and at her side.

So instead of snapping back, he took a deep breath and tilted his head deliberately to one side, as if addressing an invisible observer. “She is an incredibly difficult woman to love. I do not know why I bother.”

It did the trick. When he looked at Rosemary next, her eyes were wide and startled and that empty smile had been wiped off of her face. “Oh.”

“Yes.” He raised his eyebrows deliberately. “Oh.”

Rosemary made a face at him. “You have horrible taste. I’m not a very good bargain.”

“I have excellent taste. You are a marvelous woman.”

“I’m a massive bitch.”

He smirked. “I know.”

“Oh, lord, that turns you on, doesn’t it.” She rolled her eyes. “What an awful man you are.”

“And you love me?” This, he was not certain of. This, he asked with a hesitance he had not felt when revealing his own heart to her.

“I...” her jaw worked, her mouth trembled. “I’m not certain I remember what it is to love someone. No, don’t say anything yet.“ She held her hand up to keep him from responding. “I think about you all the time. I have ever since I first read your surveillance profile. I think it was pity, then, but now...” She swallowed hard. “I don’t know how much of it you remember, but I meant everything I said while we were fucking. That I want to keep doing this with you, if you want it too. That you make me want domestic things. And maybe that’s love.”

Dmitri felt a warm glow of satisfaction in his chest, felt it make its way to his face. And the answering smile on Rosemary’s face, full of warmth and affection, left him with no doubt that she felt the same.

The moment broke as Rosemary clapped her hands briskly together. “Now, let’s get you into a shower. You are a _complete_ mess, and I want a chance to change my sheets before it’s bedtime again.”

Dmitri laughed and levered himself to his feet. “Promise to mess them up again tonight,” he murmured in her ear as he leaned against her on the way to the bathroom.

“Oh, don’t you _dare_.” But the sideways look she shot him was both amused and intrigued.

“Will be too sore to move for next week,” he admitted ruefully. “But fully intend to go down on you every night once I am recovered.”

“Planning to earn your morning blowjobs, I take it.” Rosemary laughed. “Decadent man.”

She helped him into her shower, but he took her by the arm before she could leave him there. “I may sleep here tonight?”

Rosemary blushed, her warm brown skin visibly darkening. “If you want to,” she said, clearly trying to sound nonchalant and just as clearly pleased by the request.

“I want to. If you are willing to have me here.”

“Well, it’s not as if I can’t hear you snoring through the wall anyway,” she said tartly, a pleased little smile on her face. “Might as well treat myself to the surround sound version for once.” She made a shooing gesture with her free hand. “Now get showered so that I can feed you!”

His stomach let out a rumble of protest at those words. “Very well.” But he tugged her closer first, dropping a warm kiss to her mouth when she tilted her head back to look curiously up at him. She blushed again and kissed him back, a heady, foolhardy kiss that left him breathless and panting for her when she broke the kiss off and went to go make breakfast for him both.

And it _was_ foolhardy, thinking they could make something of this around the jobs that they were married to. But as foolhardy as it was, he knew he was going to try.

Because for the first time in his life, Dmitri felt like he had a future to look forward to.


End file.
